COMMUNITIES

Demographics

According the 2001 Statistics Canada federal census, there were 878,866 people living within the City of Calgary proper. Of this population, 49.9 per cent were male and 50.1 per cent were female. Children under five accounted for approximately 6.0 per cent of the resident population of Calgary. This compares with 6.2 per cent in Alberta, and almost 5.6 per cent for Canada overall.

In 2001, 9.0 per cent of the resident population in Calgary were of retirement age (65 and over for males and females) compared with 13.2 per cent in Canada; therefore, the average age in Calgary is 34.9 years of age compared with 37.6 years of age for all of Canada.

Between 1996 and 2001, Calgary's population grew by 15.8 percent. During the same time period, the population of Alberta increased by 10.3 percent. The population density of Calgary averaged 1,252.3 persons per square kilometre (3,243/sq mi), compared with an average of 4.6 persons per square kilometre (11.9/sq mi) for the province.

A city-administered census estimate, conducted annually to assist in negotiating financial agreements with the provincial and federal governments, showed a population of just over 991,000 in 2006. The population of the Calgary Census Metropolitan Area was just over 1.1 million, and the Calgary Economic Region posted a population of just under 1.17 million in 2006. On July 25, 2006 the municipal government officially acknowledged the birth of the city's one millionth resident, with the census indicating that the population is rising by approximately 98 people per day. This date was arrived at only by means of assumption and statistical approximation and only took into account children born to Calgarian parents. A net migration of 25,794 persons/year was recorded in 2006, a significant increase from 12,117 in 2005.

Visible minority groups

A majority of Calgarians declare themselves to be of European ancestry. This group comprises 79% of the population (688,465 people). Another 2.3% (19,765 people) of the population is Aboriginal. In addition, the city is home to a relatively large number of people belonging to visible minority groups. These groups include Chinese: 51,540 or 5.9%, South Asian: 37,370 or 4.2%,Filipino: 16,245 or 1.9%, Black Canadian: 13,370 or 1.5%, Latin American: 8,525 or 1.0%, and many others.Based on single responses. Statistics are from the 2001 Statistics Canada census.